Jesse's Branch Brings Righteousness

JESSE’S BRANCH BRINGS RIGHTEOUSNESS

Isaiah 11:1-10 - December 7, 2003

ISAIAH 11:1-10

111 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD-- 3and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

5Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

6The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,

and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. 9They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

10In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

Society daily reminds us very vividly that we are in the Christmas Season. As believers, the church reminds us that we are in the Advent Season. In the Advent Season we look at the gifts that God has given to us and provided for us. We remind ourselves that Advent means "coming,” We prepare for the coming of our Savior as He is born in Bethlehem, and we prepare for His coming as the Righteous Judge on the Last Day. Maybe we have already been busy buying gifts and trying to find that perfect gift for the perfect person. Yet, we realize there is no perfect gift on this side of heaven, because there is no perfect person on this side of heaven.

So, it is important for us today as believers living in this sinful world to remind ourselves of the perfect gifts that come from God. Last week we were reminded about God’s gift of peace.) Today, we are going to talk about the gift of righteousness. As we look at righteousness, we are reminded that the Lord knows exactly what we need. He provides us with exactly the gifts that we need. James tells us in his letter: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows"(JAMES 1:17). Our needs, our desires and our wants may change. The gifts that the Lord gives us do not change. They are exactly what we need. Isaiah began by describing this in our text. Isaiah says that Jesse’s Branch brings righteousness. Jesse’s Branch, of course, is Jesus Himself.

Jesse’s Branch brings righteousness

I. From humble beginnings

II. With very miraculous results

I. From humble beginnings

When you go home today, take out your Bibles and read chapter 10 of Isaiah. In chapter 10 of Isaiah you would read about Isaiah proclaiming the Lord’s judgment against Assyria and against Israel. Assyria was a great nation that one-day would destroy Israel and that would be the end of them. The Lord would punish them. They would no longer rise again to be a great nation. That was God’s judgment. For Israel it was the same thing--they too would face God’s judgment--defeated at the hands of their enemies. But there was more for Israel, wasn’t there?

Now in chapter 11, we hear the Lord’s promise, a promise that from what is remaining in Israel a Savior would be born. Verse 1 of chapter 11: 1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. Isaiah describes those humble beginnings. You can picture for yourself as the Lord is picturing for us a forest that has been cut down and all that is left are stumps. They aren’t much use anymore. That was the remnant of Israel. That nation was not great anymore, and all that was left were stumps. Yet, from that stump we are told that a shoot will come, that a Righteous Branch will come out of the roots. That Righteous Branch from Jesse, from the house and line of David, is Jesus Himself.